Mobile is the cherry on top of Dairy Queen's marketing

Fast food chain Dairy Queen has begun using mobile marketing in an effort both to reach consumers on the go and to promote its new Sweet Deals value menu and has found the results to be sweet.

Dairy Queen's first mobile campaign, which ran in March, saw an average click-through rate of 22%. This campaign was part of an effort by Dairy Queen's digital agency Space150 and mobile marketing services firm Mobile Posse. This was Dairy Queen's first foray into mobile and the first partnership between Space150 and Mobile Posse.

The idea behind the campaign was to promote the new menu to people at strategic times. Messages were sent prior to lunch and dinner time — 11am and 5pm — aiming to reach consumers when they were making meal plans.

"The introduction of the value menu is a real game changer for Dairy Queen's business," said Nicole Newville, who oversees the Dairy Queen account as director of modern media at Space150. "It [is] a more viable option for a quick lunch. And, when you are looking for a place to go on your lunch break, the opportunity to reach consumers on the mobile device while they are out and about is very appealing. "

"Being able to deliver the mobile messaging at a specific point in time gives us the ability to drive awareness around lunchtime and around dinner," added Jon Jackson, CEO of Mobile Posse.

The mobile ads ran on deck for various carriers with which Mobile Posse has a partnership with. The advertisement promoted meal options from $3 to $5 and the tagline, "Dinner is your choice with Sweet Deals."

Images of hamburgers and French fries were used to entice users. The Sweet Deals value menu also was promoted through sponsorship of daily weather forecasts.

Beyond the click-through rate, more than 69% of all Mobile Posse users viewed the Dairy Queen-sponsored weather forecast at least once during the campaign.

"Our goal in the campaign was to determine whether users are receptive to handling mobile messages from Dairy Queen, and the answer really is yes," said Newville.

Dairy Queen joins other fast food marketers who are using mobile to reach consumers on the go. Papa John's Pizza and Domino's both use mobile marketing campaigns and also have mobile ordering capabilities. Arby's, Subway and Taco Bell have all used mobile coupons. The idea behind using the mobile phone to market fast food is to reach consumers when they are out and could be hungry.

"Mobile is useful for a quick-serve restaurant because it is an impulse purchase, and if you are presented with the right driver at the right time, you could really affect someone coming into the store pretty quickly," Jackson noted.

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